September 06, 2010

Vintage Vancouver.

The mister and I just returned from a majorly-inspiring and long-dreamed-about vacation, where we road tripped from the Pacific Northwest, all the way down to my hometown of Hollywood. We began the journey with a drive from our place in NY to Washington D.C., where we dropped off our beloved Pug (Ali Baba) for a visit with the in-laws. We then flew to Vancouver B.C., where we rented a car, and explored several enclaves before hitting what felt like a 2-week rock tour of beachy towns along the Western-most coast. Though we were only in Vancouver for a day and a half, we got a real feel for its foggy, green, relaxed vibe. We first set up camp in the lovely Art Deco suite of The Corkscrew Inn, a truly fabulous b&b in the Kitsilano Beach area, which is hilly, bohemian, and laden with Victorian hippie homes.

Our first vintage stop was The Peg General Store on Kitsilano's Commercial Drive, which has a large selection of antique furniture and creepy thrift store paintings for nice prices, though we didn't find anything that fit our fancy. We did however find an awesome African Nyariga basket tote in rasta colors ($48) across the street at the ethnic decor store Kali, and Nic scored a mint condition '60s Aquascutum trench coat ($10!) in navy blue at Mintage down the street.

Being that Nic is a ramen addict, we went to Vancouver's "ramen zone" for dinner, and had delicious authentic noodles at the ever-popular Kintaro, then took a drive around the West End, followed by some killer vintage neon-sign spottings in Kitsilano.

The following day we went to pay our respects to the awesome totem poles in Stanley Park. Totems were the British Columbia Indian's Coat of Arms, each one intrinsically different from the next, elaborately carved of red cedar, painted in the hippest hues, and telling tales of both real and mythical happenings.

Then we hit Salmagundi West in Gastown, which is a steampunkers dream knick-knack shoppe, toppling over with repro-old timey tzotchkes and actual antique curios. In the basement they have hundreds of drawers filled with wacky smalls, and it's so old that you'd expect to encounter an old Chinese man selling a Mogwai at any moment. We picked up some antique letterpress blocks, as well as old pocket-watch faces for craft projects.

Next up was the totally awe-inspiring and mouth-watering Granville Island (aka; munchie paradise), which is an enormous indoor farmer's market of nearly every genre of delicious food imaginable. We were happy to have already eaten a nice breakfast prepared by the Corkscrew inn-keeper, since we would have noshed until ambulances were needed. Still, we did manage to fit into our tum-tums; donuts from Lee's, and sandwiches (followed by perfect French macarons) from La Baguette et L'Echalote Bakery. We also bought cherries and good road-trip fruits from Four Seasons Farm, various raviolis (as gifts for our upcoming hosts in Seattle) from Duso's, and dee-lish "lemon honey" from Honeyview Farm. If you are in what I will now dub The 'Couv, do not miss this outrageously magical, Wonka-esque island of eats!

Our final stop was the ever-enchanting antique shoppe, A Bakers Dozen in Riley Park. It's a dreamland of charming curios, every shelf and crevice adorned with elaborate vignettes. What we brought home; a beautiful miners certificate from the 1920s ($16) and a great 1920s children's book filled with whimsical Deco illustrations called Shoes and Ships and Sealing Wax ($34).

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We just booked a 5 day trip to Vancouver for November(we're driving from Portland to Vancouver, then back down again), so this post is rockin' my world majorly. I'm basically printing out your blog post as an itinerary to follow. And oh yeah, I'll bring the books I publish as well! ;)